No Laughing Matter
by Adala
Summary: Light an L travel to Germany, along with Misa, Matsuda and Mogi, to look into a murder case that might have a connection to Kira. Set during the Yotsuba arc.
1. L

**No Laughing Matter**

_This story was not written by me, but by my friend Saladred, who is also on FF. I translated the original to English, though, so many more Death Note fans might enjoy it. I hope the translation doesn't come off as wooden. I'm still trying to find a way between faithful translation and artistic license. Any comments on the text are highly appreciated._

**Summary:** Light and L travel to Germany, along with Misa, Matsuda and Mogi, to look into a murder case that might have connections to Kira. Set during the Yotsuba arc.

**Warnings:** none so far.

**Chapter 01**

Light drank his tea in small sips while reading about the border conflict between the Russian Federation and Chechen Republic in a news magazine. For today, he had already looked through and categorised the bulk of data on the most recent cases of death that were suspected to bear a connection to Kira. Thanks to his brilliant memory, this kind of work was especially easy for him and he could use the breaks he allowed himself from time to time to deal with other topics. The mass murderer seemed to follow his or her own master plan, unaffected by world politics. Hence, the news weren't actually connected to the case, but he could not afford to be uninformed. Not only his status as citizen, but his aspirations for a position inside the Japanese police department demanded full political awareness of him. Especially regarding the neighbouring states of the island kingdom, it was important to him to be constantly aware of their intentions. He was puzzled how a person like Kira, claiming to create a new world in the glorious light of his justice, could keep out of politics completely.

"Thanks, Watari," Ryuuzaki's monotone voice said right next to him, interrupting his observations.

"Oh. Did I disrupt you?" the detective asked, sitting crouched in his chair. Light shook his head.

"I wanted to continue my work anyway," he said, while neatly putting away his magazine. The article had been too superficial for his taste. Sometimes he wondered whether journalists were even required to provide any qualifications to be employed. An average university student could have written this. But there were things in this world that probably could never be changed. Among those, the wide spread incompetence, without which humankind would obviously be better off. At least he lived in a country where human incompetence was not that intensely felt as opposed to the People's Republic of China, the Korean states or South America. Kira concentrated on Japan but he neglected countries like Paraguay and Chile, where corruption and guerrilla warfare drove the population into criminality. It was indeed a puzzle to him what this person was thinking.

"Well, it's alright then." Ryuuzaki grabbed his cup and discovered that it was empty. He stared at it for a while before he reached underneath the table and produced a bag. He rummaged through its contents and finally produced a bottle of coke.

"You want some?" Ryuuzaki proffered the bag. Light was not the least bit interested but he took a glance anyway.

"Where did you get it from?" he asked.

"Matsuda left it here," the answer came muffled from the bottle's cap, which the master detective just had loosened with his teeth. Greyish sticky vapour sprayed his face.

"Then it's Matsuda's coke… Well, anyway…."

Light returned to his monitor. "I'm almost finished with the data. I'll look into the order next. Maybe we'll find a new system this time."

Ryuuzaki nodded. Since they were chained to each other, Light had learned to bear with the quirks of the carelessly dressed young man who always looked as though he'd just been woken up. It was hard to believe, though, that he was actually pondering about something in moments like these, when he watched the sparkling of the coke in its bottle before he drank.

"Sir, the parcel you were awaiting has just been delivered", Watari's voice croaked from the small speaker in front of Ryuuzaki. The detective put the bottle away and leaned forward to push the little red button with his long, spidery fingers.

"Bring it here," he said. He kicked himself off the desk and let his chair roll one or two meters to another desk at the side. Watari entered, carrying a carton box with all kinds of foreign post marks.

"There also came this letter." Watari proffered a letter and Ryuuzaki took it gingerly. He teared it open with his teeth, skimmed the content and then put it aside. Light watched him in bewilderment opening the package and producing multiple video tapes, files, reports and so forth. Among those items were psychology magazines written in several languages, English, French, German and Japanese.

"What are those?" he asked curiously. Ryuuzaki looked up.

"Maybe a new clue about Kira. I ordered it from my contact in London and it arrived today."

"Surveillance tapes?" Light guessed. Ryuuzaki gave him a crooked smile. "No, not even close, Light."

He lifted one tape in a way that allowed Light to read the title: "The Crimes of Dr. Mabuse". He grimaced.

"What do you want with old film classics, Ryuuzaki?" Ryuuzaki tilted his head, his fingers somewhere in the shaggy hair. "Well, I still haven't-"

"Hey!" Matsuda exclaimed who had just entered the room. "Where is my bag?" He pointed an accusing finger to the table under which it once had been.

"It's over here with us," Light replied angrily. "So, what's up with the films, Ryuuzaki?"

Matsuda walked over to his bag.

"How lucky I am. I was already afraid I'd left it somewhere. But that's odd. Wasn't there a bottle of coke in here?"

"I drank it", Ryuuzaki said casually and then continued ignoring Matsuda. "Here's how it is, I'm still not convinced that you have never been Kira. We already talked about that."

"But how does that relate to those films?"

"That's not fair!" a completely ignored Matsuda complained. Aizawa grabbed him by the shoulders and walked him over to a small table where the others sat in the background.

"I noticed that your laughter has changed when you changed yourself, all of a sudden. Before you entered the cell, it was quite characteristic. But now, it resembles more the standard laughter of all Japanese. Since I highly doubt that you have practised it while being imprisoned – I would have observed it – the change could mean something."

"You still haven't explained the video tapes, Ryuuzaki," Light reminded him.

"Those tapes contain recordings of both, old and new horror- and splatter films in which the villain's laughter has come closest to the psychological ideal. Reports and essays from internationally accepted psychologists about this topic, tables and all referencing data that could be obtained are collected here, on this very table. If I can come closer to the solution of the problem through laughter, I'm all in to do it, Light."

Ryuuzaki had dunningly raised his index finger while speaking the latter words. Light wanted to pose another question but Watari stepped in and whispered something in Ryuuzaki's ear.

"Really?" Ryuuzaki took the ready mobile phone from the hand of his butler who retreated at once, only to come back with a little trolley-table laden with sweets and pastry. In the meantime, Ryuuzaki spoke to a man in British English. A man Light did not know. Maybe his English intelligencer who had provided him with those ridiculous tapes and magazines. Light went over and looked at the cover pictures of the video tapes. As expected, there were also old science-fiction films among them in which the villains laughed especially diabolically. Two manually labelled tapes even contained cinematic cut together selected films. Did Ryuuzaki really spend tax money on that? Did he have to specify what he had used it for? If so, what did the UNO think when they saw the list of films that had been sent half around the world on his behalf?

Ryuuzaki hung up. Then, through the tangled mass of paper and video tapes, he reached for the letter and read it again, thoroughly. With a sigh he picked up the mobile phone and dialed a number specified on the chit. Several photographs were attached.

"What's this all about?" Light asked. Ryuuzaki gave him a cloudy look from his big black eyes before he spoke into the receiver in a hard language. Light wondered whether it was German or a Slavonic language. He was not sure, maybe he recognised the name "Lars" - or it was just a normal word. The Ryuuzaki hung up. Thoughtfull, he turned in his chair and chewed his thumbnail.

Light awaited the return of life to the detective until the process took so long that he was tired of waiting and repeated his question. "What is all this about, Ryuuzaki?"

Ryuuzaki stuck out his lower lip. "In Bremen, the corpses of two business men have been discovered. They worked for a child trader network in Southeast Asia."

"And what have they got to do with us?"

"They apparently died of heart failure. But their names don't show up in any police files. Only the BND knew of their activities. Hence, nothing was known about them, at least not in public."

Light looked at him in astonishment. "BND? That's Germany's secret service, isn't it?" Ryuuzaki nodded. "They don't have the best security system, but the thought that Kira has hacked in there..."

"Maybe we're dealing with poison."

"Only a few hours after the corpses have been found, someone called the police and claimed to be Kira. The recording of the phone call will shortly be sent to us." Ryuuzaki still took rounds in his chair and stared into space.

"What does Kira do in Germany? Or worse: what does he do with criminals, whose names and faces he's not supposed to know in the first place because they're only registered in a foreign country in a supposably inaccessible database? Plus, the murders in Japan have not ceased. That means he must have access to both data resources."

"We can test for that," Light said, logging in on his terminal.

"Right." Ryuuzaki seemed unsatisfied but for the moment it was all he could come up with. Maybe it was, in fact, only a copycat criminal who actually used another method to kill. But what if the incident recurred...? His gaze wandered over to Light. Another Kira?

* * *

**Translator's Note:** I have a few more chapters already translated, they only need a review before publishing. I hope you like the story as much as I do. Helpful comments always welcome!


	2. Robert C Faulmann

**No Laughing Matter**

_This story was not written by me, but by my friend Saladred, who is also on FF. I translated the original to English, though, so many more Death Note fans might enjoy it._

**Warnings:** brief description of murder victims

**Chapter 02**

Ryuuzaki kept on sitting in the same place behind Light for a long time. He stared silently into nothingness, only occasionally serving himself from the ever refilling trolley-table. He answered Light's questions only in short and vague sentences. The videos and magazines on the desk behind him seemed to be completely forgotten, even though in two instances he picked one of them up and briefly looked at it. His eyes wouldn't look at the pictures, though, and they wouldn't scan the text that had been highlighted or cut and pasted for him but they were fixed on some distant point in the vastness of his own mind. Sure, it was necessary to look into the evidence provided by his German acquaintance. But it didn't make much sense to link the incident to Kira. The popularity of the serial killer was increasing all over the world and it wouldn't be the first time an ordinary criminal tried to cover his tracks this way. In theory, both men could have been on the BND's wanted persons list by pure chance alone. But what about the other case? Ryuuzaki had not mentioned it yet, to test Light's reaction. The young man had started to work as helpful and eager as he always did, without any traces of unusual activity. Either he still was an excellent actor or he really was not involved in these murders. The second case was about a housewife, charged with a completely different felony: child abuse. Although the children could be regarded as a link between both cases, she had not been shadowed by the BND, but by the German police. Due to lack of evidence she had been found not guilty several months ago. Her name could thus be known by several people. A Kira had admitted to this murder as well, but he had called a different division of the police and there were only low quality tapes to determine whether the same person was involved or not. Plus, the housewife had died by a stroke, as the forensic jurisprudence concluded with absolute certainty after they had performed the postmortem examination. Her body also had suffered bruises, some of which could not be explained by a mere collapse in her tiny flat. Possibly, the cases were not related at all and neither to Kira. This thought haunted Ryuuzaki's mind, sometimes clearly, sometimes fading in fear of a third serial killer with Kira's abilities. Once more, they could do no more than wait and collect more data on which they could base assumptions that would finally result in the solution of the many annoying, seemingly contradicting problems. But human lives were a precious currency and Ryuuzaki wondered whether he was willing to pay it. Next time, it might not only cost the life of a criminal, but innocent people as well. The behavioural pattern of the murders in Germany was different from the ones here in Japan.

"I don't think we're dealing with Kira here," he stated suddenly. Everybody had already gone to bed, except for Light, who couldn't. At the other end of the chain, the boy's eyes looked up from the screen in surprise.

"Well, at least not with a Kira sharing the same ideals and information as the first and second," he agreed in a serious tone. Then he turned nonchalantly in his chair to readjust his screen, so Ryuuzaki could see it, too.

"You were right, it wasn't hard to get into the BND's database. But if we consider the murders here in Japan and in the rest of the world to have definitely been committed by the first or second Kira, they don't fit the pattern. The victims were, for example, not at all important men of the organisation. One of them even seems to have gotten cold feet and considered to turn himself in and blow everybody else's cover. Their names never appear next or in proximity to each other in none of the digital files. They didn't have anything to do with each other in their private life. They only met during the circle's meetings where they got their "material". We can't dismiss the possibility they were acquaintances but according to shadowing reports it was less intensive than to other members of the network. There is also something about the place. For the first and second Kira, time and place always seemed to be an important matter. None of their victims died alone in their bed. It's all about the effect, fitting their ideological goal. The Bremen double murders are, on the contrary, rather unspectacular deaths. Although there were plenty of opportunities to kill them in a way many eyes would have witnessed it, the murderer opted for a silent, secret method. Both victims died in bed and if they hadn't been so young and healthy, there wouldn't have been any suspicion of murder until the telephone call. Thus, we're dealing with a formerly unknown individual whose actions can't be completely comprehended yet."

Ryuuzaki nodded and came closer by leaving his chair and positioning himself directly in front of Light's screen. His eyes glided over the various information inside the windows Light had opened, over the photographies of the dead, their short _vitas_, the police reports.

"So you think they've got nothing to do with Kira?" he asked, after a while had passed. Light hesitated, but then he nodded confidently.

"I think, someone tries to act in Kira's long shadow to cover his own murders that have no ideological, only personal motives."

"Dmitrj König had connections to both of them and had occasional arguments with Kanzert. Apart from him, there's only one other name we could logically put in relation to them: Robert Carsten Faulmann. He's one of the agents. Nobody else was set on the case. Check whether he knew someone named Bertha Krüger."

Light started immediately. He didn't have to think about it for long to see that this name Ryuuzaki hadn't mentioned to him before was related to the case. Ryuuzaki still did not trust him. But it would come with time. For now, he swallowed his anger and skimmed over the schedule of agent Faulmann. Ryuuzaki leaned over his keyboard and soon he had access to the database of the Hamburg Police Department. There, in Hamburg, the murder of Bertha Krüger had taken place. They looked through the long stream of data for hours. It was already late at night, when they finally found something.

"Faulmann's sister was the minute writer at the court hearing of the Krüger case," Light said.

Ryuuzaki's eyes gleamed gloomily in the reflection of the computer screen.

"There is our connection," he said. "To be correct, we'll also have to check König, but I don't think we'll find anything. He seems to be a petty criminal who hasn't been living in Bremen for long."

"His family is from Cologne," Light confirmed. "He doesn't have any relatives in Bremen or Hamburg, only a friend: the bar keeper in whose back room the group held its meetings. The man is under observation too, by now. He makes a rather pathetic living off drug dealings. Before he would kill anyone he hardly knows, he'd rather take out one of his bosses. Their relationship doesn't seem to be exactly friendly."

Ryuuzaki nodded appreciatory. "That was fast. You surely are a detective manqué."

"A detective is nothing without his equipment," his number one suspect replied modestly. It would be such a shame if he really were Kira. Ryuuzaki cocked his head.

"Herbert will be pleased to hear that we solved his case so quickly," he said thoughtfully. "We can go to bed after I called him. You must be tired."

From now on, the case was back in the hands of the BND and the German police. Ryuuzaki couldn't help but admit he was rather glad. A third Kira would mean there could be two killers at the same time with the same powers. And where there were two, there could easily be more. He shuddered at the thought of having to hurry from one end of the world to the next, to only limit the horror of Kira. Again, he gave Light a side glance. Had his primary suspicion been wrong and the chief's son was right? Could Kira control human actions for some time? He couldn't imagine this to be true but he was in no place to exclude the possibility any more. Without noticing, he had already added it to his investigation catalogue anyway. Light had more influence on him than he liked to admit. But he needed his intelligence and he needed his will to find Kira, whether he was being honest or not. Also, he had to keep an eye on him, in case his suspicion became stronger again or Light fell into relapse. In the meantime, Light wondered why he had a bad feeling about regarding Robert Carsten Faulmann as a murderer. Then he noticed what had been bothering him:

"Ryuuzaki!"

The master detective gave him a curious look. "Yes?" – "We may have a problem. Faulmann was out on business on the night in question - in Nuremberg."

* * *

**Translator's Note:** In case it puzzled you: "Kanzert" is the surname of one of the murder victims. This is not mentioned in the original story, either.

Any comments on the translation are very welcome, also negative comments or corrections.


	3. Touta Matsuda

**No Laughing Matter**

_This story was not written by me, but by my friend Saladred, who is also on FF. I translated the original to English, though, so many more Death Note fans might enjoy it._

**Warnings:** none

**Chapter 03**

Ryuuzaki came closer again. There had to be an explanation.

"In that case, he paid someone else to do it."

"There are no incoming payments or withdrawals in his account that would support this assumption," Light replied gravely. Ryuuzaki leaned past him towards the screen, as if he could improve his visual capability by being particularly close to it. His hands instinctively found their way to the keyboard. _'Somehow unsettling how close he is,'_ Light thought and made an effort to move away from the master detective. But his friend didn't seem to notice. He stared at the screen, nervously sliding his right thumb to and fro on his lower lip, typed a few words, moved the cursor and fixed his gaze again at some point on the gleaming screen. To Light, it felt kind of ghostly.

"Maybe the payment has not been made yet or has been made in some other form," Ryuuzaki suggested but he did not sound very convincing. Light knew him long enough by now to sense the uncertainty in his voice. Every movement of the man in front of him made it clear that he was in search of an answer. The same way he had clung to him he now clung to Faulmann and he wouldn't let go until he either convicted him or proved without doubt that he couldn't have done it.

"We can't check for that. The German police has to take care of that for us." Light said. Ryuuzaki nodded. But deep inside his mind he seemed to have a dispute with himself. His eyes travelled constantly from the screen to some undefinable point in the large dark room around them. Then he cocked his head.

"I will speak to my contact," he said. Promptly he reached for the phone and dialed. Light remembered that it had to be day right now in Germany. He didn't know the exact time difference but it was probably not later than early afternoon. The German must have called very early in order to talk to Ryuuzaki at an acceptable time. Before someone picked up at the other side of the line, Ryuuzaki pushed a button to start the tape. Ah, he wanted to record the conversation. Although he would love to know what Ryuuzaki was about the ask the German, Light understood that it wasn't much use to listen. Without at least basic knowledge of German he might as well listen to the buzzing of the computer and try to determine what programs it was running. So he rather went through the facts once more. But no matter how hard he looked for it: Carsten Faulmann could not have committed the murders personally. At least not without pulling the same or a similar trick as Kira.

Ryuuzaki hung up and crouched back into his chair. Still in thoughts, he started to stare at the wall in discontent.

"So? What did he say?"

"He confirmed everything. Faulmann is not being observed, but he asked a colleague who was in Nuremberg with him. Nothing suspicious to report. Apparently, he's at odds with his sister and they hardly talk to each other. They only meet on holidays like Christmas or Eastern. But this year he didn't show up because he is afraid to introduce his new girlfriend. We could check on her, but I'm afraid there's nothing left but flying to Germany and see the whole thing and Faulmann for ourselves."

Light had expected as much.

"Well, give me her name, then." As expected, there was no clue whatsoever about her having any connection to the murder victims. She did not even live in the same town but worked in Wiesbaden and had a flat in one of the suburbs. Ryuuzaki was visibly displeased.

"We have to work something out so we can take Misa with us," he said casually, while his eyes caught every reaction of Light, who paused in astonishment and gave him a questioning look.

"But Ryuuzaki, why should she come with us? It will only be a short trip. She would only be in our way. Not to think of Matsuda..."

Both of them remained silent. Light would never have said this aloud with Matsuda in the room – to be honest: until now he would not have dared to speak his mind so freely about the young police man. Ryuuzaki stared at the – empty – bottle underneath the table.

"Well... You're right. But I want Misa to come with us. We can record everything that she does here but I guess it's better when I can observe her personally. In case she's the second Kira, she might try to contact the murderer. You know as well as I do that we can't let this opportunity slip."

Light grimaced at the thought to expose Misa again to - this time very real - danger, in a country whose language they didn't understand.

On the other hand he couldn't refute Ryuuzaki's arguments. She would surely be able to help them find a third Kira, if there was one. Plus, it was safer to watch her in case she was smitten by Kira's powers again. With a sigh he closed his eyes.

"There's no way around it."

Ryuuzaki's eyes wandered across the room again.

"But we'll leave the others here."

They agreed upon this, both of them in silent harmony about one and the same person, who must not, under any circumstances, accompany them.

Meanwhile, Matsuda sneezed in his sleep and rubbed his nose absent-mindedly. In his dreams he stumbled through a vast flower field and enjoyed the just and peaceful world he had created as president of the Japanese police. And Tokio's hero had no idea that the two most brilliant minds of Japan had just ganged up on him.


	4. Misa Amane

**No Laughing Matter**

_This story was not written by me, but by my friend Saladred, who is also on FF. I translated the original to English, though, so many more Death Note fans might enjoy it._  
_**  
**_**Warnings: **none  
**  
Chapter 04**

"Wohoo! Do you see that! Look, look Misa-Misa!" Matsuda whispered excitedly and pointed out of the round-shaped window of their aeroplane. Misa smiled tiredly. He had kept acting like this for two hours straight now. Eventually, Europe was not that interesting anymore. Seen from 2500 feet above, that is. Besides, they were not even above Germany yet, they were flying over Denmark. She couldn't wait to see the land of cuckoo clocks and leather trousers in real life. She was, of course, aware of the fact that there was more to Germany than the Black Forest and Bavaria. But a little bit of romantic Alpine upland, together with her Light, yes that was something she was looking forward to. Her smile became brighter again and she peeped at him past the curtains. He sat in the economy class where she saw his eyes rushing swiftly from left to right. So he was reading again. Ryuuzaki waved at her, so she quickly turned away. All the fuss just because of this Kira-thing! She would have sooo enjoyed the long hours of the flight if she would have been allowed to be alone with "her" Light. She sighed.

Pouting, she wondered for about the hundredth time whether he had really taken her with him just for her to serve as an alibi. Ryuuzaki, Mr. Mogi and he impersonated the staff of a fictional Japanese film company who were seeking a location to shoot a film starring her in the leading role. She was supposed to get to know Germany on this journey and provide a reason for the others to travel with her. According to plan, Light and Ryuuzaki would separate from them soon to meet Ryuuzaki's contact from the BND. Obviously, Ryuuzaki wouldn't act as employee of the film company, but as the young man he had introduced himself to the agent some years ago. Misa found the situation to be infinitely complicated. She wondered why he didn't just travel to Germany as Lars, without all the mimicry. Hopefully, they wouldn't need long and she'd get some hours alone with Light out of the whole affair. After all, they had taken the handcuffs off for their stay in Germany. She rejoiced chirpily in anticipation.

"Excuse me, Sir, but would you please calm down? We're beginning to approach Copenhagen now," she heard a stewardess politely say in English. She addressed, of course, Matsuda, who only just managed to break away from the window and sit down quietly.

"We'll see all of it for real soon enough," Misa whispered rascally. Maybe she'd get a chance to get rid of him. She had not really understood yet why he was supposed to be her manager. But whatever, she could work with anybody. Even with Mr. Matsui. She had, by the way, resolved to address Ryuuzaki only with his alias Ryuuga Hideki, just to spite him. He did seem indifferent, but as long as she imagined it might hurt him, if only just a tiny little bit, she felt so much better.

"Oh my God, we've landed!" cried Matsuda with bulging eyes. Misa wondered if he had ever been on a plane before.

"You'll get used to it, Tarou", she said patronisingly and unfastened her seat belt. Copenhagen awaited its two hours of Misa-Misa.

"We'll take the train to Bremen from here," Light said. "For you the journey continues to Berlin. We'll stay in touch by telephone. The line should be tap-proof but try to stick to the code we discussed back in Tokyo. That applies to everyone. You too, Misa."

Misa twisted her pretty lips into a pout.  
"Does that mean you'll listen to everything?"

"That is exactly what it means," Ryuuzaki said. The Japanese model stretched with a mischievous grin on her face.

"Pervert."

She turned, only to prance around Light, give him a kiss on the cheek and leap away with a wink, Matsuda always right behind her. Mr. Mogi followed them after he had bid the other two farewell. Light and L watched Misa, Mogi and Matsuda as they left.

"Why did he come with us again?" the master detective asked.  
"I don't want to remember. Come on."

Light and L walked hand in hand across the airport. That had been the condition and the requirement: after they had taken off the handcuffs in Japan, L had insisted on holding hands to make sure Light stayed in his ultimate proximity, so they pretended to be a couple. This safety measure went against the grain for both of them, Light even more than L, but it was unavoidable and it had also been kind of the reason why Matsuda had come with them. While they were still discussing the matter, Matsuda had somehow already taken care of the tickets, to their shocking surprise. They had, of course, tried to talk him out of it but they were unable to put their original plan – to replace him with another manager who should be in charge of Europe – in action: he had already booked the tickets in his name. At this time, the companies they wanted to contact had already been determined and all they could do to bridle the young policeman was to convince Mr. Mogi to go with them. The sturdy man was not bound to Japan by anything but his girlfriend, who approved of the journey without further ado. Only Mogi himself didn't feel like travelling to Europe only to watch Misa and Matsuda. This being his primary duty wasn't hard to see through. On the other hand, this was also part of his job within the task force and he was amused by the sight of their two super brains worrying about the success of their mission, just because of Matsuda. In his opinion, their concerns were exaggerated and both of them relied too much on their intellect. But none of this was his problem. Besides, his girlfriend had asked him to bring her some things along from Germany where she had a cousin who was already looking forward to his visit. As long as he went with Matsuda, at least that wouldn't be a problem and he wouldn't have to hurry from crime scene to crime scene or from one police station to the next.

"The train station is fairly easy to reach," Ryuuzaki said. He found it remarkable that the airport hadn't changed much in the years he had been away. The railway connection was still acceptable, even though it wasn't as good as in Tokyo or in London. While they walked across the asphalt towards the entry of the underground he observed Light from the corner of his eye. His movements were very stiff and wooden, totally uncharacteristic, so Ryuuzaki assumed he was not very comfortable with their little charade. Although nobody knew him here, he seemed concerned about his reputation, which seemed to influence him more severely than Ryuuzaki had anticipated. That again was one more point for him being Kira, a weak one though. Maybe this aspect would even help to solve the German murder cases. Ryuuzaki had noticed that the mass murderer cared very much for his prestige and for his "work" to be recognised. Copycats usually had a hard time to take a hold against him (or her). While Kira had committed himself to a higher justice, most others merely quenched their lust for personal revenge, which made them a lot easier to capture. Ryuuzaki wished for Light to be Kira and then again he did not wish for him to be Kira at all. When he thought of the place they were about to visit, the birthplace of a great deal of world literature, he had to think of Goethe's Faust and the two souls about whose fate the alchemist complained so much. His gaze slid back to Light again, who looked back at him this time. What might have gone through his head? In silence they walked down the stairs.

"What line are we taking?" Light asked.


End file.
